Really long & scary day [Update - M80s found]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/06/13/2007-06-13_high_school_evacuated_in_bomb_scare.html

UPDATE: Cops also found dynamite. Some pics were shown on the news, I'll try to get some.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2007/06/dynamite_forces_evacuation_of_1.html

UPDATE 2: News site with pics, and says the stuff wasn't dynamite, but M80s.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=our_schools&id=5393819

So the fire alarm went off 3rd period around 9:25ish, and we knew someone pulled it, because it wasn't planned. We stood outside for a while in our usual fire drill positions, and then we saw every administrator on their cell phones, men in dark suits and sunglasses, and several sheriff vans that had pulled up.

Then, we all were sent to our football field bleachers to chill for a while, and then our principal told us a bunch of firecrackers were found stashed in lockers with fuses sticking out, ready to be lit. However, as there was a high chance of rain today, we were sent to a Christian school across the street for shelter.

There, they told us that we would be dismissed around 11:55, which was when they planned on re-opening the school. The time went by really slowly, and by 11:55 they told us that the cops (which now included the local police, county police, state police, sheriff's department, and the FBI) wanted the school re-opened at 12:55 instead.

So we were all pissed off and moaning, because no one had eaten any food or had any water or other liquids for over 3 hours. As 12:55 came around, they told us that we would be dismissed in small sections at a time, because the cops wanted to search everyone before they left. Great.

So they took 4 rows at a time (there are hundreds of rows in the whole sanctuary, all of which were filled - there are 1400 kids in my high school) outside, where bomb sniffing dogs smelled all of our stuff and then we walked by a row of cops with hand detectors.

Here's a pic of the sanctuary:

At first I was sitting far away from where they started the dismissal, so all of my friends and I quickly moved closer, before the administrators started yelling at kids that tried to move. At that point, we weren't even allowed to go to the bathroom =/ A friend of mine who hadn't come to school today (lucky guy) called me and told me we made national TV - we were on MSNBC - and there were helicopters all over the area.

I finally got out around 2:30ish. What a day. The best part is - I'm part of the school newspaper, and the last issue, which is coming out in a day or two, includes an article about how Wayne and Wayne Valley are incredibly safe. Talk about irony.

 

Wow - the FBI really came because of firecrackers? Bomb sniffing dogs? I think they overreacted, unless this was part of a supposed terrorist plot to take out a high school or something >_>

 

Everyone thought they blew it out of proportion, but it was kind of a big deal.

Firecrackers are banned in NJ, so just possessing them is a no-no. So now, here they are with lots of sticks of firecrackers, stashed in lockers of a public school, ready to be lit. That means the kid "smuggled" them in from Pennsylvania (most likely), which means this is an interstate problem, worthy of FBI involvement, I suppose?

Had those gone off, there would have been small explosions, a ton of smoke, and probably a bunch of fires, that would have scared the crap out of the top floor of our school.

They're not sure what the motive was yet - if it was just a "joke" or some conspiracy. But it was committed by some idiot freshman, so who knows.

 

It was most likely a "joke" by some idiot that was probably trying to scare the living shit out of the other students and didn't think about what might happen if he/she set those off.

But yeah that must have sucked, I remember when a kid set off a cherry bomb in a toilet at my school and we had to wait outside for three hours.

 

just sum kids pulling a prank, since schol is alsmot over

i think its kinda funny tho, i prolly woulda set them off lol

 

You would be an idiot then because you could easily injure yourself and/or people around you.

 

Well... at least they didn't pull a virginia tech?


But wow... that musta been fun XD!

 

Wow they sure did do alot for some firecrackers. When I was a freshman and just starting hs something like that happened to are school. Someone put a lock on a water sprinkler (the ones inside for fires) and when the janitor tryed to take it off the water went everywhere. (Theres 3 floors and this was 2nd), so everyone had to go out just like you all did. It was hot to you all were lucky you go to go in shelter, LOL.

 

Wow, that sounds like a fun day... But you would think people bring stuff like firecrackers to school all the time, i guess not :\

 

It would've been funner if there were real bombs

 

....^ complete idiot.....how in the hell would it be funner if there were real bombs? are you fucking mental?

 

Same kinda thing happend to us the day after the VA shooting. Some suicidal kid made a hitlist on his calculator and brought a sawed off shot gun to school. Silly noobs.

 

I was being sarcastic...

 

If you attempt anything like this freshman Steph was talking about you gotta be a complete retard :/. Plain and simple

 

Dang, sounds like a rough day :\, and im glad everything turned out alright.

 

Freaking hell, there was dynamite in the school.

Wasn't just firecrackers.

Holy hell.

 

That blows..Freakin dynamite. Good your okay.

 

I think everywhere in the us firecrackers are illegeal..

 

Wow scary.

 

No, only some states have banned firecrackers.

The ones found today, though - M-80s, ones not as powerful as dynamite but a hella lot more than normal firecrackers - are illegal in the US.